War matters.
From late papers received at this office, we make up the annexed summary of events:the Ruse for Homs.
The Baltimore Sun, July 27, says:
‘ Yesterday morning the neighborhood of the President Street Depot presented a scenes rarely witnessed in Baltimore. A short time ago regiment after regiment of troops would arrive, but they were hurriedly pushed forward for the defence of Washington; but the scene of yesterday was nearly four thousand jaded and worn-out soldiers going home, but waiting impatiently for the means of transportation. Hundreds of them lay stretched upon the sidewalks, wrapped in sleep, and may hap dreaming of those who anxiously awaited their return. So great was the anxiety to get off, that the Rhode Island First Regiment ran up Pratt street to meet the cars that were to convey them northward. The feeling seemed to be general that they had and enough of the war and its privations, and intimated but little disposition to go again so far from the Capital to defend it. Many of them complained that only freight and stock care were provided for them, and so great was the objection of numbers that they climbed to the tops of the cars, where, they said, the beat of the sun would not be so intolerable as the fetid atmosphere within. As the train moved off the band played "Home again from a Foreign Snore." Throughout the whole day the trains were passing toward Philadelphia.
’ The Baltimore Sun Effects of the War upon England.
Gore's Liverpool Commercial Advertiser, of July 16th, in an article upon the war in this country, says that ‘"even the balance of power in Europe may be disturbed by its controversy."’ Also ‘"that its influence upon British industry and commerce greatly surpasses that which would be executed by a European war."’ The Advertiser, in conclusion remarks;
‘"We are reluctant unbelievers in the possibility of any compromise that would reconstruct the Union on its original basis, and we can discover no solid grounds for hope that the North will withdraw her armies from the field until matters shall arrive at such a dire extremity as will justify, if it does not compete, some kind of European intervention. "’
Privateering.
The privateering at the South is having a very disastrous effect upon the shipping in the West India, and indeed other trades.--Since the captures by the Sumter, no American vessels can obtain a charter in Cuban ports. All the sugar and molasses there to be shipped is given to English and Dutch vessels. This state of things is not only very mortifying, but also very ruinous to American ship owners and captains in the North, who are beginning to experience the ‘"blessings"’ of the Lincoln Government.
the Federal Plea.
The Louisville Courier says:
‘ The attempts of the Federals to contradict their own dispatches of Monday, and to convince the public that their lose is but triffing, is a plea that the army was composed of cowards, and that even the civilians who super intended the telegraph at Washington were so frightened that they did not know what they were doing twenty four hours after. Such a plea is more humiliating and more disgraceful than the worst defeat.
We have closely examined all the reports we have seen in our exchanges, whether of a general or special character, and we are satisfied that whenever the whole truth is made known, the Federal loss will be found to be greater, in men and guns, and stores and equipments, than they have yet confessed to; greater than reported on Monday.
’ Griffin's battery.
The Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune says, speaking of Griffin's battery, that in three discharges, or less than two minutes time, he lost forty five men and sixty horses, and, unsupported as he was by infantry, was compelled to retreat, leaving all his guns but one.
A Drunken Colonel.
The same correspondent writes:
Our disaster on Sunday is ascribed to Col. Dixon H. Miles, who commanded the reserve, and failed to come up at the critical moment. The evidence of his drunkenness is over whelming, and his command has been taken away from him. He will probably be court martials.
A Lie Exploded.
One of the stories current in the Northern newspapers is too much for even the New York Times. The Washington correspondent of the paper writes:
Much has been said about Col. Einstein's returning to the battle-field at 11 o'clock on the night of the battle, and bringing off a battery. As the story is told, it implies that the rebels were not within reach of the field, and that we were unpursued. I don't know about the latter, but Einstein did no such thing as is told. His brigade was detailed to cover the retreat. The battery of the Eighth Regiment was left at Centreville, at the camp, and in the retreat this was not looked after. When Einstein brought up the rear, with German frugality he picked up the Eighth battery, and brought it into Alexandria.
Social life in Washington.
The New York Herald's correspondent says:
‘ Either the military or civil authorities of this city should put a stop to the riotous conduct of drunken soldiers, who are permitted to stroll about this city. It was never in a worse condition than now. There is no safety to pedestrians on the street from being shot Two men were shot to-night. Three riots have occurred in one street in less than twenty-four hours. Soldiers enter private dwellings and demand money, and if refuse they offer offensive and insulting language, and not unfrequently threaten to do violence to those refusing.
’ call for Volunteers.
Governor Morgan, of New York, has issued his call for 25,000 more volunteers from that State. It is easier to call than to get them.
who is Responsible?
The Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune thus flings the whole responsibility of the Hessian defeat upon Gen. Scott.
Mr. Moses H. Grinnell does Secretary Cameron great injustice when he places upon him the responsibility of refusing regiments of mounted men. We have pretty good reason for knowing that Secretary Cameron has accepted regiments that have been refused by Gen. Scott, who, with his peculiar it ration of manner replied, ‘"I don't want any cavalry, sir; I don't want any cavalry, sir. My plan of campaign doesn't require cavalry, sir." ’--It is but justice to the President and Cabinet that the country should know that Gen. Scott has had full control of all the war movements, and also organized the columns, appointed the officers, and selected the time and points of attack at Bull Run.
The following incident of the rout is related by the same correspondent:
A Colonel of volunteers was met during Sunday's retreat by a regular officer, who asked him where his regiment was. He said he didn't know. He was told that he ought to know, and ought to be with them. He made some paltry excuse, to which his interrogator replied, calling him by name: ‘"You're a coward, sir."’
cannot be Relied upon.
The Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger says:
‘ There are military men, of European experience in war, who say that those who have been part and parcel of the route from Bull Run, cannot be relied upon hereafter for offensive operations.
’ the schooner Tropic Wind.
The London Shipping Gazette of the 8th, grumbles not a little at the recent decision of Judge Dunlop, confiscating the British schr. Tropic Wind, for breach of the blockade.--The editor hopes the Supreme Court, to which the case has been carried, will reverse the decision, because to ‘"press the law of blockade so promptly and severely against the shipping of a friendly power, is a species of sharp practice which is unworthy a great maritime power, and would be quite as well avoided in these times, when all nations within the circuit of civilization are agreed upon the propriety of exemptions of commerce, wherever it is possible to do so, from the ravages of war."’
more Cabinet Revelations.
At the close of an article asserting that Gen. Scott was overridden by the Cabinet and the New York Tribune in making the recent attack, the Times says:
‘ It is known, and need not longer be concealed, that there is in the Cabinet an element of intense hatred to Gen. Scott. Perhaps Mr. Blair embodies and represents it more thoroughly than any other member.--He has made no secret of it, but has often, in spite of the gross breach of official propriety which such an act involved, denounced the General in public places as utterly unfit for his high position It seems to us as quite time that the President should make his choice between General Scott and those members of his Cabinet who would substitute for his experience and military skill their own resentments and ignorant pretence. His Cabinet has been distracted, and his own action weakened long enough by these presumptuous and disastrous counsels.
’ Whereupon the New York Express says:
‘ Revelations these! And what revelations! Read! Ponder! Digest! The Times' editor is perfectly right in this: That the President should forth with either dispose of this Mr. Blair, or of General Scott. If a Cabinet officer cannot hold his tongue, in derogation of a great General, in supreme command of the Army, and thus be damaging his morale in the Army, that must be inspired with confidence in the Chief in order to succeed, it is time for the Postmaster General to quit his mail bag, or the General-in-Chief to be dismissed by the President. The mail bag or the opaulettes must have the confidence of the President, the one or the other, in the direction of the Army.
’ the Plight from Manassas.
It is interesting to peruse the Northern accounts of the Hessian rout. The following is an extract from the correspondence of the New York Express:
‘ After the repulse of the Fourteenth a perfect avalanche of glittering steel came pouring out of the woods in the direction of the Manassas railroad, bearing down upon our shattered, wearied columns with triumphant cheers. Then commenced a scene of the most disgraceful confusion, entirely indescribable, and truth compels me to state that the chief officers of our division were the first to ride off the field, and left the different regiments to look out for themselves. Col. Burnside, Gov. Sprague, Col. Martin, of the 71st, and one or two others, were for making a stand against the enemy, but the example of other demoralized scattered regiments threw all into confusion. After retreating a mile or so, Col. Burnside formed the brigade to cover the retreat — not by the orders of General McDowell, I believe, as I do not think he was seen again by any of our force after he left the field. The brigade was soon thrown into confusion again by cavalry and artillery coming from the rear wild and panic stricken, riding and driving recklessly along, knocking down men and overturning ambulances, and then commenced a route most humiliating and disgraceful. The road strewn with baggage wagons over. turned, muskets, blankets, cartridge boxes thrown away, and all abandoned; our dead left unburied, our wounded to be prisoners, and with the exception of Burnside's brigade scarcely a corporal's guard of any regiment or company together along the road. The famous Garibaldi Guard were not much on Sunday, but on the next morning were conspicuous on their return, entering houses, shooting pigs, cattle, &c, and demeaning themselves like extremely brave and ferocious follows generally, among women and children. Between Sunday morning at three and Monday noon, our brigade accomplished at least fifty miles of marching, including their share of the battle, without rest or sleep.
’ the New York Sixty-ninth.
A few days ago we published a telegraphic dispatch from Washington to the effect that Abe Lincoln had visited the 69th in Alexandria, presented them with a complimentary letter, and that they had consented to re-enlist. The following, from the New York Express, of the 25th stamps that dispatch with falsehood:
‘ The various Societies are requested to hold themselves in readiness in their regalia at 6 o'clock to-morrow morning to receive the 69th Regiment on their return from the seat of war. For place of rendezvous, see morning papers.
’ the British Regiment.
The New York Express thus revives an exploded humbug:
‘ This (the British) regiment, under a new organization, has at last been accepted by the Secretary of War. The organization of the regiment will be completed in a few days. It is confidently expected that they will in all respects be equal to any regiment yet offered to the Government.
’ Socialism in New York.
A mass meeting of 2,000 working men took place in New York last Wednesday. One of the papers of that city says:
‘ The President, in a speech, submitted a plan of organization, in which he defended socialism, maintaining that the working classes, in a crisis like the present, have a right to claim the support of the community. It was the duty of the latter to afford subsistence to the poor by providing them with employment, in commencing the building of bridges, streets, avenues, water works and parks, where the laborers could be advantageously employed. The speaker suggested the organization of working men's associations in all the wards of the city, and all the towns of the State and country, each society to be composed of "sections," including the different trades, the whole to be governed by a central organization. Various addresses were made on the subject by more than a dozen speakers.
The debates were occasionally carried on in a very excited manner, and at times grew violent.
’ another Yankee account.
George Wilkes, editor of the New York Spirit of the Times, was a participant in the battle of the 21st, according to his own account. He writes as follows to the New York Tribune:
‘ Following the 69th came the Scotchmen from New York, their tall leader, Col. Cameron, trotting briskly at the head, in order to give room to their over-eager step. His face was cheerful, but theirs were rigid and as fixed as stone. Not a word was spoken, except by the captains, of "hurry, hurry, boys!" until some looker-on, unable to command himself, exclaimed, "Go it, auld Reekie!" Then of a sudden a wild scream, or rather shriek, burst forth like an explosion and rang again and again along the entire line. It extended its impulse to the Celtic column in advance, and likewise set the Wisconsonians on fire, and the three regiments went forward from that moment with one continuous shout, which had no meaning but a mere rage for battle.
This was the first opportunity afforded me to reach the scene, and I fell in, and followed on. As we neared the place of the conflict, the cannonade began again, and we could hear the singing of rifled cannon shot, and now and then see them plunge into the earth, or smite upper branches of the trees along our line. The woods near the edge of the battlefield were already filled with wounded and exhausted soldiers, and occasionally we could see a wounded man in the arms of his comrades, who were carrying him to some piece of shade, or steadying him on horseback till they could bear him to some spring. The universal cry of these unfortunates was for water, and even the unhurt men — nay, even those who had not yet been engaged, were parched with the consuming force of the terrible excitement.
When we arrived, Sherman's guns were still engaged in playing with the batteries of the enemy, and the infantry were not upon the field. The reinforcements also were withheld, and the battle left to the great guns alone. The 69th and 79th, and Wisconsin 2d, were drawn up just at the entrance of the field, protected from the enemy by a narrow screen of saplings; and I stood by a company of Brackett's cavalry, who were waiting for another dash, whenever the gunners should require their protection. I looked along the Celtic and Gaelic line, and they stood amid the booming of the guns, pale and resolved, with their lips firmly set, impatiently expecting the signal to go in. One signal shout, the prologue to a bound, would have been cheap at a guinea to the poorest man in the line. As I stood thus dividing my admiration between them and the gallant fellows who were working our guns, there came a shell (as I thought, though it turned out to be a rifled cannon shot,) singing toward me, and seeing others take warning from its note by running behind trees, I bent as close to the ground as I could. Whether that helped any portion of me from its range, I do not know; but I saw it smite a rise in the path about fifteen yards ahead, and had a look at the monster in my hand in two minutes afterward. Even in that quiescent state, I could hardly help respecting it with terror.
’ A Speech from Gen. M'Clellan.
On the arrival of Gen. McClellan in Philadelphia, the rabble got him out upon a balcony, when he spoke as follows:
‘ My Friends:--In this time of action it will not do to make useless speeches. I take this greeting as intended for my brave soldiers of Western Virginia, to whom the whole credit of the recent skirmishing in that section is due. But your applauses assure me that the cause of the Government lies next to your hearts, and, remembering it, I shall try to do better in my new field of labor. I bid you good by.
’ Wilson, the Massachusetts Shoemaker.
Says the New York Herald's Washington correspondent, July 25:
‘ Mr. Wilson, chairman of the Military Committee of the Senate, offered a resolution yesterday, empowering the President to remove from office any military officer who should prove inefficient in the service. Senators were ready to vote for it, but Mr. Wilson insisted as usual upon making a speech, in doing which he made a sweeping denunciation of military officers for the Bull Run stampede, which did not relish with some Senators. Mr. Sherman rebuked him for his language in open Senate. Mr. Brigadier General Wilson, it is said, made double-quick time from Bull Run on Sunday. If that is true, it ill-becomes him, as chairman of the Military Committee of the United States, to censure an inferior officer for doing the same thing.
’ the Rich Mountain "Heroes."
A dispatch from Wheeling, July 25th, says:
The Tenth Indiana Regiment, Col. Benton. three months volunteers, passed through here to-day, on their way home to be mustered out of service. They were introduced to Gov. Pierpont, who made a telling speech, thanking them in the name of Virginia for their gallant conduct at Rich Mountain.--They were the recipient to of a fine dinner, prepared by the patriotic ladies of Wheeling.
the Battles of Manassas.
The Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger (Black Republican) says:
‘ As to Gen. McDowell, it may be said that he should have brought his reserve into action to neutralize that of the enemy, which made a "battle lost a battle won." But it can properly be feared on this head that it was of no use to bring up the reserve except to cover the general rout produced by a mass of stampeding politicians, teamsters, camp followers, &c. There is, however, one thing that does not conflict great credit upon the qualities of General McDowell as a great captain, t. c., the soldiers were not all brought nigh to the point of battle on the night precedent to the engagement. On the contrary, they started before day, without refreshments, and marched in some cases for many miles before coming in contact with the enemy.--Whole corps were almost exhausted by a march at the double quick, when there was no need of it. After that came hours of hard fighting, and then a night and day's retreat in perfect confusion. Men laid down anywhere and fell into deep sleep, from which it was almost impossible to wake them. It is to be supposed that the enemy were in the same condition of exhaustion, for if they had been fresh "up and at" our troops on Monday, they could not only have made prisoners of thousands upon thousands who are now safe, but could easily have taken this city. The Confederates have no idea of the disorganization that exists with full half of our regiments, soldiers of whom, as yet, but little regard the officers who were fugitives with them, and therefore have not much power to get them out to camp, and are also almost powerless just now to get arms, equipments, &c., &c., to supply the places of what were left about Centreville or cast away.
’
